On November 12th and 13th of this year, USAO had plenty of visitors on campus, and for a very special reason. OSGA, or the Oklahoma Student Government Association, held their Fall Congress this year on campus. OSGA is a collaboration between all universities across Oklahoma that choose to participate, including both two-year and four-year colleges, where student delegates come together to write legislation to make a change in the higher education system. When passed, the resolutions are sent to the Oklahoma Board of Education, the Oklahoma Board of Regents, and can even be sent to the current governor’s office.

OSGA has two congresses annually, one in the fall and one in the spring. The Fall Congress is held at a random institution, while the Spring Congress is held in the Senate chambers of the state capital. Chandler Leamon-Webb, a junior political science and history double major at USAO, is a regular at the OSGA meetings.

“USAO is always a powerhouse at OSGA, and this year there was 28 pieces of legislation brought up, and 21 of those were authored by USAO students,” said Leamon-Webb about a trend he said he has noticed in USAO’s involvement.

According to Leamon-Webb, all but one of the pieces of legislation presented were passed, bringing the total amount of legislation passed by USAO students to 20, and overall legislation passed to 27.

Ashlyn Clark, a junior English-education major at USAO, was offered the opportunity to be the Floor Speaker for the USAO-held congress. As someone who had never been to an OSGA, or even acted in a position in USAO’s Student Government Association (SGA), she said she was excited for this opportunity to experience something new.

“I got to experience a different side of it (OSGA), than I most likely would have gotten if I had just attended this normally, and I had a blast,” said Clark.

Clark got thrown into the opportunity, but took it and ran with it, getting to interact with the executive board and make connections in a place she otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.

There were many notable resolutions passed this year, including one urging the state government and Board of Regents to introduce daycare systems into institutions statewide. Other interesting legislation include removing the SAT/ACT requirement for enrolling into universities and removing the requirement for freshman to live on campus in any university. Clark aided in passing a bill to require higher education institutions in Oklahoma to require a licensed therapist and a licensed psychiatric therapist on campus for students to access for a low price, and it passed the floor with flying colors. The only piece of legislation that didn’t pass was one allowing formally incarcerated people to go to college anywhere in the state, without their criminal record barring them. This was controversial, and many people had intense opinions about it which kept it from passing. However, a less intense version of the same bill was passed later on.

Bother Clark and Leamon-Webb said they are optimistic about the chance that these passed resolutions will make a difference, and believe the change would be beneficial to the state if this happens.

“Make sure you do things to get your voices heard. As your voice matters just as much as ‘full-scale politicians’ do. If you get the opportunity to be in OSGA, or SGA at any level, definitely take it,” said Clark to encourage others to attend OSGA’s future congress sessions.

Bea Bourland is a first-year Biology and Environmental Science major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.